So what does a label manager do?
We are a small independent company, so my job is a bit of everything really. I find the bands and put them in the studio to make the record. I have to work out the marketing, organise the videos and the art work for the record sleeves and make sure the promotion's done right. I coordinate the whole project - from press and radio and TV promotions through to the studio engineers, mixing down the record, to the band itself and their manager. Everyone spins around me.

How did you get the job?
I started off buying records just as most kids do at 15 or 16 and getting turntables. I went to Oxford University and did a degree in biology and I didn't think at that time that music was a very viable a source of income, just more of a hobby. I set up a radio station at university. When I left university I set up a magazine then I met the boss of Source Records, who interviewed me and we started to set up this new label called WordPlay. So I kept the two parallel channels going - university and music.

What's the usual route to your job?
It depends. There are two main areas: one is A&R - artist and repertoire - which is actually finding or 'scouting' the bands and helping them make the music, commissioning re-mixes and dealing with the more creative side. A&R people may have started work at 16 scouting, running around for some senior person, doing work experience, going a lot to gigs and generally getting involved. Alternatively you've got the marketing side. A lot of those people have studied marketing or been to university and it's more of a kind of nine to five job.

What advice would you have for people who want to get into the music industry or specifically into a record label?
I think it's important to go and do a university education, a lot of people choose to drop out at 16 and are very successful - but it doesn't leave you much to fall back on. That is why I did my academics but outside of that I did clubs, I DJed, and I worked at a radio station.

What sort of money can you expect if you're just starting out?
Starting-out salary in the music business is not that good, for example an A&R or Marketing Assistant can get anywhere between £8,000 to £15,000 a year. A good wage is around £40,000.

What is the ultimate wage in the music industry?
I'm sure the top people across the road at Virgin Records are probably on a good couple of hundred thousand pounds a year but then they're looking after a multi-million pound company. I'm not nearly up in that world but I make enough to live and where possible I put things on expenses!

Do you have any advice for me as a parent on what I can do to help my child?
My parents took a view that if you love it go ahead and do it, I think a big thing is not to knock people. I know a lot of people who are working, who don't work in music, who say 'I always wanted to work in music but my parents never though it was a viable way...' It's a perfectly viable way of making money and having a career. I think the one thing to do is encourage your kids to follow through the things they believe in and know that there is money to be made, there's a perfectly good respectable profession, you learn plenty of admirable traits and working practices that can be applied in other businesses.

There are courses you could send your kids to that I think are actually very valid. A lot of them have people in the music business doing workshops, I do some stuff and my artists are actively involved. There are university music industry-related degrees, available throughout the UK. At the age of 16 or 18 I think it is important to get work experience, and getting active hands-on experience for example applying to the local radio station and local record companies.

What sort of person do you think you need to be?
I think you need passion for music. You have to understand that you're probably going to take a lower wage to start with - but if you love your music that's the first thing to get you ahead in the music business. Other things I think you need are organisation and drive. You usually have to be persistent and believe in yourself and find your area and niche that you want to work in. You get knock backs - I went to four or five different interviews at record companies.

What are the pros and cons of the job?
The pros - obviously working with music, working with creative people, but there is a lifestyle element to it, and sometimes that involves having crazy moments with pop stars and rock stars, which is great. I think the other fun thing is actually hearing your record on the radio for the first time or doing TV. The down side is there's a lot of back stabbing, a lot of people just aren't particularly pleasant people.

What kind of hours do you work?
I work with artists who invariably get up at 3pm because they've been in the studio all night. I will get phone calls at 9pm or even 1am, Monday through to Sunday. So my hours are pretty much 24/7 but you just have to learn to turn your phone off your phone off, but I'm now in a position when I can. When you're starting out, you have to be on call 24 hours a day. I loved it for those two or three years, being on call 24 hours.